Opera House Cinema Series to screen ‘50/50’ Saturday and Tuesday

October 28, 2011

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House will screen the box office hit comedy "50/50" as part of its Cinema Series on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Inspired by true events, "50/50" is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine from a script by Will Reiser.

"50/50" is the story of a guy's transformative and, yes, sometimes funny journey to health drawing its emotional core from Will Reiser's own experience with cancer and reminding us that friendship and love, no matter what bizarre turns they take, are the greatest healers.

"We worked with Will on Da Ali G Show, and it was shortly after that that we learned he was sick," Rogen says. "As shocking, sad, confusing and generally screwed up as it was, we couldn't ignore that because we were so ill-equipped to deal with the situation, funny things kept happening. Will got better; and when he did, we thought the best way to pull something good out of the situation was to get him to write a screenplay. Ideally, we wanted to make a film that would be as funny, sad and hopefully as honest as the experience we went through. As soon as the script was completed, it quickly became a passion project for all of us. It helped us come to terms with Will's struggle as well as our own experiences."

"50/50" scored a 93 percent critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the international movie review web site. Bill Goodykoontz, in the Arizona Republic, calls the film "a tremendous movie. It's also a really funny one, which doesn't mean that it won't make you cry as well." Daniel Kimmel, of New England Movies Weekly, calls it "... one of the unexpected pleasures of the fall movie season." Chris Vognar, of the Dallas Morning News, calls it "a small, sharp comic jewel with a big heart." Matthew Turner, in ViewLondon, says the film "tackles a distressing subject with a healthy dose of humor, thanks to a sharply observed script, well-rounded, likeable characters, astute direction and a trio of terrific performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick."

Tickets to the Opera House Cinema Series are available at the door for $7 (adults), $6.50 (seniors & Opera House members) and $5 (students & children) the night of each screening. For more information, call the Opera House Box Office at 716-679-1891. The Series continues with "Moneyball" on Nov. 5 & 8; and "The Ides of March" on Nov. 12 & 15.

Chautauqua County's only performing arts center presenting its own programming year-round, the 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.